Brahma, Outback, Banco do Brasil and TIM share the experiences and results of their first actions in the metaverse
Since Mark Zuckerberg first spoke about the metaverse in October of last year, the subject continues to gain visibility and attract conversation at every turn. Although the ecosystem propagated by the founder of Meta is designed to exist in fact only in a few years, the metaverse of games is already a reality.
So far, many brands have already used this ecosystem to strengthen their assets, such as connecting with geek, gamer, pop culture audiences and also demonstrating pioneering spirit. In addition, while early adoptersplayers want to identify ways to establish interactions, create touch points and, of course, generate business.
“Brands seek to understand what the public’s interaction with a brand is within the metaverse because we are still groping,” explains João Vitor Rodrigues, professor of digital marketing at ESPM Rio. He makes an analogy of the current moment with the process of maturing branded content, which took a while for the market to find a way.
“The more brands put themselves there and invest in this learning and testing work, the more mature they will be for when things start to grow”, he explains.
Brahma is among one of these pioneering brands in Brazil, with action even before the term metaverse came back to life – the word came up with the book “Snow Crash”, by writer Neal Stephenson, published in 1992.
The company invested for the first time in October 2020, when it presented the long neck version of Brahma Duplo Malt inside Cidade Alta, in partnership with the Cheil agency. Together they created a bar and a brewery.
Marketing director Maurício Landi says that, at the opening of the bar, more than 40 streamers shared the experience, which generated an audience of more than 1.3 million unique users over a Monday night.
“Launching a product within Cidade Alta had never happened, as we did with the Brahma Double Malt long neck. Then, when we took our Brahmosity to the server, we anticipated the snow, which is the most awaited moment by streamers annually, and we took all the history that we had already built in the real world to the virtual one”, he explains.
He says that the brand’s actions aimed to transform and unfold the entire experience between the two universes, real and virtual, and that he has learned from these initiatives that there is no single way to talk and connect with consumers. “And more and more, new resources appear bringing new opportunities and alternatives to create innovative actions for consumers”.
For Cristiane Berna, trade marketing manager at Outback Brasil, the brand’s actions in the ecosystem are part of a larger movement, which began in 2016, with activations at the Campus Party and which has evolved over time. It is this consistency with pop and geek culture that connected Outback with the first virtual wedding held on Decentraland, one of the most famous platforms in the metaverse.
In another action, at CCXP 2021, the company created its first virtual restaurant and a burger that avatars could enjoy within the game – the exclusive product could also be purchased at the physical restaurant.
“The streamers ate the burgers while they were playing and we had more than 5 million people watching the lives”, he recalls. “With that, just on the first day, we sold more than 7 thousand CCXP burgers in restaurants and delivery, reaching the end of the action that lasted a few days in more than 20 thousand burgers sold”.
She sees a lot of potential in the metaverse to create conversations, from interactions and testing experiences, and also as a space for generating business.
“We are able to combine the virtual experience with the real experience, crossing the customer journey in the game with our delivery and also with the face-to-face experience at the restaurant. Discount coupons, journeys with missions and rewards, vouchers that give a gift when purchasing another item, etc. This makes the game always more complete,” he explains.
In Banco do Brasil’s strategy, the metaverse enters as a means for the development of new relationship opportunities. “Working in the virtual world, offering products, services and experiences, is a way of being close to the younger generations and being in the metaverse contributes to delivering a complete experience for this audience”, says Tadeu Figueiró, marketing manager at the bank.
The institution, based on the manager BB DTVM, created the fictitious investment funds BB Metaverso Multimercado FTW and BB Metaverso Fixed Income FTW, in the virtual city of “Complexo”, a RolePlay server. An action to promote financial education among young people and connected with the “#TamoJuntoNesseGame”, project of the brand to encourage eSports.
The initiative, according to the institution, registered strong demand from players. “Given the volume invested by the players, we realized that it was an important experience and that we are on the right path. This first action was to understand this universe and we are evaluating new experiences”, adds Figueiró.
As not only good experiences live marketing, Tim’s entry into the metaverse ended up turning into memes and jokes. After the launch of a virtual store of the brand, users of the networks criticized the structure, considering that the features are not so modern and updated.
Bruno Vasconcellos, director of E-Commerce & Remote Channels at TIM Brasil, justifies it by saying that the brand always seeks to play a leading role and lead the sector’s movements, an attitude that “brings inherent risks”.
“When we decided to launch the store in the metaverse, we opted for the Cryptovoxel environment, which is the most used in the corporate segment and one of the most accessed by Brazilians, as it offers a simpler browsing experience. It is not an environment focused on the gamer audience and, therefore, does not have such an advanced aesthetic”, he explains.
Despite the reactions, he says that approximately 1,800 people participated in the launch and that the brand’s idea is to absorb feedback and improve the experience.
The brand also made its debut in events in the metaverse, with the transmission of TIM Music Noites Cariocas shows and should continue to activate the entertainment platform with other cultural actions – the company is, for example, a sponsor of Rock in Rio.
From the commercial point of view, the director highlights that he wants to expand the sales experience. “We will open other physical concept stores in the country throughout 2022 and they will also be integrated into the space in the metaverse. Automatically, with the expansion of integration with the virtual world and demand, more products and services will also be made available little by little”, he concludes.
